Growth to Watch For 2018: North Scarborough

This instalment of our Growth to Watch For series follows our North York Centre and Willowdale instalment and continues our eastward push into Scarborough, exploring the northern half of the former borough (including a chunk of eastern North York) east of Highway 404 and north of the 401. Density is indeed spreading into the inner suburbs, with a host of new proposals along the Sheppard corridor banking on the promise of a future LRT, and more projects planned along Finch and Steeles. Beginning in the northwest corner, we zigzag our way south, summarizing every project nearing completion, all developments currently under construction, and every proposal currently making its way through the planning process.

Map outlining the area covered, image via Google Earth.

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We begin our adventure in the far northwest corner, with redevelopment plans announced in 2016 for the SteelesTech Campus, a commercial office complex bounded by Highway 404 to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, and Victoria Park Avenue to the east. An intensification of the site is planned by owners North American Development Group that would see eight new buildings designed by Giannone Petricone Architects added to the four existing office buildings of the complex. The new structures would include a 12-storey hotel, several single-storey restaurants, and a new office tower, totalling 1,169 square metres of retail, 74,139 square metres of office space, 20,644 square metres of industrial space, and 13,252 square metres of institutional/other spaces. Notice of Approval Conditions was achieved on February, 27, 2017 for this site, but its Site Plan Approval is still under review.

Heading east on Steeles, the Splendid China Mall just east of Kennedy Road is the site of an intensification proposal that would see three residential towers of 17, 26, and 28 storeys constructed adjacent to the mall, leveraging the property's close proximity to the Milliken GO Station. Designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects, the towers comprise 793 new condo units, and include grade-level retail in their podiums, with some retail and office spaces integrated on the second and third floors. The existing mall will be retained, and all surface parking being replaced would be relocated indoors or underground in the new development. Plans have been appealed to the OMB in regard to complicated rezoning issues for the area, with hearings scheduled for July and September of this year.

Site plan of the proposed Splendid China Mall redevelopment, image via submission to the City of Toronto.

Jumping southeast, a mixed-use proposal by Ideal Developments dubbed Ideal Square is planned for a vacant site adjacent to the Scarborough Convention Centre at Morningside Avenue and Neilson Road. The development is designed by Atif Aqeel Architect and encompasses two retail buildings, a 5-storey office building with grade-level retail, a 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-metre) banquet hall, and a church. Ideal continues to market the site to retailers.

Rendering of Ideal Square, image courtesy of Ideal Developments.

Turning westward on Finch, a tower-in-the-park infill project is proposed for 25 Thunder Grove near the intersection of Finch and McCowan Road. The 12-storey Kirkor Architects-designed mid-rise would abut against the east wall of the existing 1984-built 18-storey apartment tower currently occupying the site. The new building would add a further 176 rental units in a variety of sizes. Zoning amendments were applied for in 2016, and its Plan Approval was applied for in October 2017.

Rendering of 25 Thunder Grove, image via submission to the City of Toronto.

Continuing westward, a proposal by CIM Kennedy Creek Inc. at 3000 Kennedy Road, just north of Finch, represents a rare type of development nowadays in Toronto: the transformation of a commercial property into single detached dwellings. The site is currently occupied by the Valleyview Garden Centre, but the application proposes to replace it with 41 single-family houses designed by Cube Architects Inc. The houses are proposed at three storeys in height and would be located on an extension of Fort Dearborn Drive. Revised Zoning Bylaw Amendment (ZBA) and Subdivision applications were submitted to the City in December 2017.

Returning to Finch and continuing westward again, a rezoning application was submitted in 2016 for a 12-storey condo development at 3268 Finch Avenue East on the southwest corner of the Bridlewood Mall site. The mid-rise, designed by SRN Architects, would replace an existing strip mall occupying the site at the corner of Finch and Bridletowne Circle with 242 residential units and retail at grade. There were no updates to the application in 2017, but plans by Malibu Investments to redevelop on some of the adjacent mall property itself have disappeared for the time being.

Rendering of 3268 Finch East, image obtained via submission to the City of Toronto.

At Victoria Park we turn south and head past Sheppard. At 2450 Victoria Park Avenue at the southwest corner with Consumers Road, a proposal was submitted to the City in October 2017 to redevelop the site, currently containing a 7-storey office building and surface parking lots, with 11, 39, and 44-storey residential towers with 1,247 total suites and retail at ground level. The Collecdev development is designed by gh3 and would include a park in its southwest corner.

Looking northwest to 2450 Victoria Park Avenue, designed by gh3 for Collecdev

If we follow Consumers Road west and then north, we eventually come to Sheppard Avenue. At the southwest corner of Sheppard and Consumers, a development by Tribute Communities called Parkside Square is under construction. The project is comprised of three Turner Fleischer Architects-designed residential towers of 26, 34, and 43 storeys along with a 4-storey mall and a new public park. Construction of the 26-storey Phase 1 rental tower is underway. It should rise above ground level shortly.

To the east of Consumers Road on Sheppard, Tridel and Dorsay's Atria Condos development is continuing with construction. The four-tower project designed by Turner Fleischer Architects includes the 43-storey Alto and 8-storey Parkside towers, both now complete. The 26-storey Trio and its podium are under construction and will complete in 2018. The excavation for the 19-storey Parfait and construction will get underway this year.

Continuing east, we cross Victoria Park again. Just to the east of the corner, Opearl Developments was selling an 18-storey tower, but it did not make sales targets and was cancelled. A block and a half further at the northwest corner of Sheppard and Pharmacy avenues, Averton Homes had proposed a 14-storey condo, but ran into high water table issues. The application has been withdrawn, and no new plan has yet surfaced.

At the southeast corner of Pharmacy, a Site Plan Approval application was submitted n September, 2017 for Wish Condos. An 18-storey tower from Liberty Development, it will replace a strip mall currently on the site. Designed by Turner Fleischer Architects, the building—now in sales—will add 274 new units to the densifying Sheppard corridor.

Rendering of Wish Condos, image courtesy of Liberty Development.

A long block to the east on the north side of the road, a condo development by Quadcam Development Group called East 3220 is in sales. Designed by Burka Architects and KFA Architects and Planners, the 18-storey tower with 234 units will be built on a vacant property east of Bridlewood Boulevard. Documents for Site Plan Application were filed with the City in September and October, 2017.

Looking northeast to East 3220 Condos on Sheppard, designed by Burka and KFA for Quadcam

On the next block to the east, on the southwest corner at Warden, is a mid-rise development is proposed at 3445 Sheppard East that would see buildings of 10 and 14 storeys with grade-level retail constructed along Sheppard, plus three blocks of 4-storey stacked townhouses constructed to the south. Designed by Architecture Unfolded, the development totals 371 units. A rather stale 2014 Site Plan Approval application is still active on the City's development applications webpage.

Two kilometres to the east on the north side of Sheppard at Kennedy is an aging suburban shopping centre, most of the lot taken up by surface parking. Now considered an outdated and underused space in a city that is charged to intensify by the provincial government, the transformation of Agincourt Mall others like it is going to be the trend for in coming decades. Now owned by the North American Development Group, they submitted an Official Plan Amendment in June, 2017 to start the process of planning for a mixed-use community here, to include retail streets, residential towers, podiums, and townhomes with about 5,000 total housing units, office space, and new parkland. A zoning bylaw amendment for the first buildings is still to come, but last night a public consultation was held at the mall to get feedback from locals. The master plan concept design for the redevelopment is by Giannone Petricone Associates.

Retail streetscape with residential towers in the Agincourt Mall Redevelopment, image from the North American Development Group

Turning south on Kennedy Road, we cross under a railway corridor them come to Village Green Square. At the southeast corner, suites in the first phase of a condo community called The Kennedys were up for sale in 2017. To have been a five-tower complex from SAMM Developments, word came of financial impropriety by one of the development partners in October 2017, and it seems that development has since ceased, with no updates having yet followed. The 14-storey Delta Toronto East hotel on the site was to be expanded as part of the development, while an 8-storey office building was part of the development mix.

At the east end of Village Green Square is Tridel's Metrogate community. The multi-phase development is mostly built-out now, with the sixth tower, the 35-storey Avani2, rising above ground as of January, 2018. The 363-unit building is designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects will top out this year beside its sister tower which opened in 2016.

Rendering of Avani and Avani2, image courtesy of Tridel.

The seventh and final tower at Metrogate is dubbed Selene, is sold out, and will be located to the east of Avani in the image above. Originally slated to be a commercial development when a Sheppard subway station was planned for the site, Tridel applied to have it changed to a residential building, receiving permission for that from the City in 2016. Selene, another Graziani + Corazza Architects design, will rise 31 storeys and will add 296 more units to the neighbourhood, and is slated to go under construction this year.

Rendering of Selene at Metrogate, image courtesy of Tridel.

Earlier phases of the Metrogate development include the two Solaris and two Ventus tower complexes. Leaving the area requires us to return westbound along Village Green Square. We then turn back north on Kennedy Road and continue to Sheppard, where we resume our eastward trek again. Just shy of 1 kilometre along, Glen Watford Drive meets Sheppard before the Sheppard dives under the CP Rail corridor. On the properties to the north of Sheppard at 23 and 25 Glen Watford Drive are a pair of redevelopment proposals which have been making their way through the planning process for a few years.

Both currently low-rise commercial plaza sites, the two share a driveway off of Glen Watford, so the City requested that redevelopment proposals for both sites be accompanied by a joint proposal of subdivision to provide for a new public road between them. That subdivision submission from September 2017 came with architectural plans—but no Site Plan Application yet—for 23 Glen Watford. Here, Shiu Pong has a plan designed by Kirkor Architects Planners for two 28-storey condo towers with 551 suites in total. The development is not yet being marketed.

Looking northeast to 23 Glen Watford, designed by Kirkor for Shiu Pong

To the immediate north, just across the new was-west road separating them, 25 Glen Watford has applications in for both a Zoning Bylaw Amendment and for Site Plan Application, resubmitted with updates in October 2017. This development from KBIJ Corporation, is seeking permission for an 11-storey retirement home, with retail at grade at the west end. Designed by CXT Architects Inc., the life-lease retirement residence would have 301 seniors units. Its north and east sides would face Agincourt Park.

Further along at the northeast corner of Sheppard and Markham, a rezoning application was submitted in July 2016 for a 26-storey condo tower at 1771 Markham Road. Designed by Henry Chiu Architect, the multi-peaked stepped slab tower was proposed to contain a total of 372 units, with surface parking occupying the eastern portion of the site. No final report to this proposal has been tabled by Toronto Planning, and the application has been dropped from the City's Development Applications map.

West and south elevations of 1771 Markham Road, image obtained via Preliminary Staff Report to the City of Toronto.

Just across the street, on the south side of Sheppard, Daniels First Home: Markham Sheppard broke ground in September 2017. This development, designed by Quadrangle for The Daniels Corporation and Diamond Corp will see three 6-storey mid-rises and four blocks of 3-storey stacked townhouses constructed on the vacant lot, with a total 343 residential units, 30% of which are earmarked for affordable housing.

Another block east and we are at the intersection with Progress Avenue. Way back in 2007, a three-tower proposal was put forth by Ballantry Homes, branded as Blossom Condos and featuring a design by Richmond Architects, to be constructed in three phases on the vacant site. Despite site clearance and the construction of a sales centre, the plan fell through, and was re-introduced in 2011 as a series of townhouses. This, too, apparently never went very far, and the site has lain vacant ever since. Perhaps with activity immediately to the west now, we might see another attempt to develop this dormant property.

Further east on Sheppard Avenue there are more townhome developments coming, but nothing else tall yet, so we are ending this part of our journey where Sheppard ends at Kingston Road, and where our next Growth to Watch For story will turn back west to explore development happening in Central Scarborough. In the meantime, make sure to check out the Database files for each of the projects mentioned for more information. You can tell us what you think of all the developments happening in the city by joining the discussions in the associated Forum threads, or by leaving a comment in the space provided on this page!

Agincourt Mall is an exceptionally well located urban high density, redevelopment opportunity coupled with a secure and growing income. The property occupies 26 acres of prime retail/mixed use land,...